President Trump met with his national security team on Tuesday to discuss future plans regarding the Israel and Iran conflict.
Before the meetings, officials said that Trump considered entering the conflict that began when Israel pre-emptively attacked Iran on June 13. Since then, the two countries have traded strikes on each other.
Trump returned from the G7 Summit early to handle the conflict and told the press that he wasn’t interested in a ceasefire, but would prefer an end to the war and Iran’s nuclear weapons development. Initially, the White House considered entering into talks with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to reach a deal.
According to Axios, two Israeli officials said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli defense establishment expect the United States to enter the war soon, and possibly strike Iran’s underground enrichment facility, known as Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP).
Near the city of Qom, the goal of the FFEP was uranium enrichment. The area was later built into a military base and fortified against attack. Previously secret, Western intelligence uncovered the FFEP in 2009. Under the 2015 Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA), Iran agreed not to enrich uranium at Fordow and to convert it to a research center. However, when the United States withdrew in 2018, the country resumed its operations.
Upon the news that Trump may want to enter the war, there was bipartisan alliance speaking out against the president entering the conflict without the consent of Congress. Libertarian congressman Thomas Massie spoke out on X after introducing a resolution with progressive Democrats that would require congressional approval before the United States could stage its own strikes.
“This is not our war. But if it were, Congress must decide such matters according to our Constitution,” Massie wrote on X.
Democratic congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez supported the post and later, Massie announced that chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Greg Casar, is also a sponsor of the resolution.
Trump and Vance ran on staying out of foreign wars, yet Vance pushed back on criticism from their base on the possibility of the U.S. participating in the conflict.
“The president has shown remarkable restraint in keeping our military’s focus on protecting our troops and protecting our citizens,” Vance wrote on X. “He may decide he needs to take further action to end Iranian enrichment.”
Trump took to his proprietary social platform Truth Social to issue a series of posts that don’t necessarily indicate that he intends to keep a “hands-off” approach to Iran.
“We now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran. Iran had good sky trackers and other defensive equipment, and plenty of it, but it doesn’t compare to American made,” he wrote. “We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin,” he continued.
